CD Burners

[graphiteman]

I'm looking into FireWire CD burners for Christmas, and I was wondering what speed/brand I should get.

I've heard good things about QPS and LaCie.

Reccomendations? Warnings? Anything else I should know about them?

[EmAn]

All I'm gunna say is get as fast as you can.

[Eugene]

They're up to 32x now. Plextor is always regarded as the best...also the most expensive. Yamaha makes good burners as well, though they take different approaches.

Look up Z-CLV and P-CAV on CD burner related sites...

[EmAn]

They're at 32x now? I still thought the fastest was 24x. When did they come out with 32x?

[The Dude]

24x is the fastest you can buy now, but QPS said that they'd have 32x burners out by late December.

I just got a 24x burner myself from QPS and I can easily say that it kicks a lot of ass. I have burned about 10 CD-R/RWs so far, and have one made one coaster. The machine was not at fault though, I aborted the burn

The mechinism in this burner is a Plextor, so I can vouch for them being the best around.

Good luck!

[ 11-26-2001: Message edited by: The Dude ]</p>

[jutus]

How long does it take a 32X or 24X cd-r to burn a full 700 meg disk?

[macaddict]

About 2 or 3 minutes, I think.

[Fran441]

I think 32x is the fastest speed available, but there isn't 32x media yet.

[seppak]

[quote]Originally posted by The Dude:
<strong>24x is the fastest you can buy now, but QPS said that they'd have 32x burners out by late December.

I just got a 24x burner myself from QPS and I can easily say that it kicks a lot of ass. I have burned about 10 CD-R/RWs so far, and have one made one coaster. The machine was not at fault though, I aborted the burn

The mechinism in this burner is a Plextor, so I can vouch for them being the best around.

Good luck!

[ 11-26-2001: Message edited by: The Dude ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Does this burner work with iTunes? It isn't listed on the supported third party burners page.

[macaddict]

No, I think it was TDK who announced 32X CDR media available before the 32X drives come out.

[Eugene]

I have a 24x TDK that I shoved into a QPS enclosure, and it doesn't burn on my Mac nearly as fast as it does on a fast PC. I don't know why. I think it's the Roxio Toast drivers.

[jutus]

I have the 8x smartdisk VST cd-rw that came with my powerbook G4, and it's pretty sweet.

So nice to get power over the firewire port.

[solo]

I have a 4x sony and it is a piece of crap. I does work with itunes and the finder which is nice but the thing is about as large as my computer.

[<Ken>]

You should at least be aware of the compatibility of the CD-RW's with Retrospect, iTunes, and Toast. You need Toast to copy CD's as well as making bootable CD's, which Apple software does not do. I was also interested in using Retrospect to do computer backups. I was *shocked* to find out how few external CD-RW's Retrospect was compatible with. None of the recent fast LaCie's, for example, and never faster than 16x. QPS and EZ Quest are supported at 16X by Retrospect. I have listed the relevant compatibility websited below for you to check out.


<a href="http://dbs.dantz.com/hardware/FMPro?-db=hardware.fp5&-format=default.htm&-findall" target="_blank">http://dbs.dantz.com/hardware/FMPro?-db=hardware.fp5&-format=default.htm&-findall</a>

<a href="http://www.apple.com/itunes/notes.html" target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/itunes/notes.html</a>

<a href="http://www.roxio.com/en/jhtml/cdrdatabase/database.jhtml" target="_blank">http://www.roxio.com/en/jhtml/cdrdatabase/database.jhtml</a>

[graphiteman]

Well, I've narrowed it down to the QPS 24x10x40 and the LaCie U&I 24x10x40x drives.

One thing I noticed is that the LaCie drive does not support variable packet writing. What is this exactly, and is it important?

Reccomendations?

[gordy]

[quote]Originally posted by jutus:
<strong>I have the 8x smartdisk VST cd-rw that came with my powerbook G4, and it's pretty sweet. So nice to get power over the firewire port.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I placed my order for this drive today. To rebut EmAn's claim, speed is not the only issue. You have to also consider usage, space, style, cost, OS X support, etc...

I chose the SmartDisk for the bus power, small size, style, and portability with my iBook. I had a QPS (4x, it died), that I only used with one computer because of its bulky size and huge power brick.

Not to mention, i got it for $250 on Buy.com.

[EmAn]

[quote]Originally posted by gordy:
<strong>
I placed my order for this drive today. To rebut EmAn's claim, speed is not the only issue. You have to also consider usage, space, style, cost, OS X support, etc...
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Sorry, I didn't mean that speed was the only issue. To me it would be important in making the decision for my next burner. I would want one that's got BurnProof and all of the things you have mentioned.

[TigerWoods99]

I have a 24x10x40x IDE Lite-On burner.

You should get an IDE 32x12x40x Lite-On, they will be shipping pretty soon.

[graphiteman]

Well, I ended up with the LaCie 24x10x40x. I preferred to have it under the tree, plus I doubt I would burn at 32x any time soon if I got the drive.